Monday, October 30, 2006

There are a couple of ways that you can access a shell remotely on most Linux/Unix systems. SSH, which is an acronym for Secure SHell, was designed and created to provide the best security when accessing another computer remotely. Not only does it encrypt the session, it also provides better authentication facilities as well as features like X session forwarding, port forwarding and more so that you can increase the security of other protocols. It can use different forms of encryption ranging anywhere from 512 bit on up to as high as 32768 bits.

Simple connect

The first thing we'll do ijavascript:void(0)Publishs simply connect to a remote machine. This is accomplished by running 'ssh hostname' on your local machine. The hostname that you supply as an argument is the hostname of the remote machine that you want to connect to. By default, ssh will assume that you want to authenticate as the same user you use on your local machine. To override this and use a different user, simply use username@domain.com as the argument:

ssh username@domain.com

The first time around, it will ask you if you wish to add the remote host to a list of known_hosts, go ahead and say yes.

X11 session forwardingYou can login to a remote desktop machine and run some X windows program like Gnumeric, Gimp or even Firefox and the program will run on the remote computer, but will display its graphical output on your local computer. The key to making it work is using the -X option, which means "forward the X connection through the SSH connection"

ssh -X username@domain.com

and run the application from the remote console. If you get a "DISPLAY is not set" error, it means that sshd isn't configured to accept session forwarding. To enable this, open /etc/ssh/sshd_config in a text editor and uncomment (or add) the following line:

X11Forwarding yes

TCP Port Forwarding

Like X11 session forwarding, SSH can also forward other TCP application level ports both forward and backwards across the SSH session that you establish. For example, you can setup a port forward for your connection from your home machine to work.company.com so that it will take connections to localhost port 3306 and forward them to the remote side mysql.company.com port 3306.

ssh -L 3306:mysql.company.com:3306 username@work.company.com

where -L is the local port. Again, the option AllowTcpForwarding yes should be enabled in sshd_config.

You can also reverse the direction and create a reverse port forward. This can be useful if you want to connect to a machine remotely to allow connections back in. For instance, I use this sometimes so that I can create a reverse port 22 (SSH) tunnel in order to reconnect through SSH to a machine that is behind a firewall once I have gone away from that network:

ssh -R 8022:localhost:22 username@my.home.ip.address

This will connect to my home machine and start listening on port 8022 there. Once I get home, I can then connect back to the machine I created the connection from, using the following command:

ssh -p 8022 username@localhost

SOCKS5 proxy

You can set a SOCKS5 proxy similar to port forwarding, except you don't have to specify the address that you want to forward to:

ssh -D 1324 username@domain.com

Run commands over SSH

Sometimes, you don't really want to run a shell like Bash on the host you are connecting to. Maybe you just want to run a command and exit. So simply run:

ssh username@domain uptime

and it will print the current time, uptime, users and so on.

Keep SSH connection alive

If for whatever reason, your session just dies after X minutes of inactivity (idle), you can simply fix this problem by adding the following lines to ~/.ssh/config :

Host *Protocol 2ServerAliveInterval 60

This tricks many firewalls that would otherwise drop the connection to keep your connection going.

Here's some news that may make u wonder if using BitTorrent is worth it. The first conviction related to the BitTorrent file-sharing network has been handed down, with a 23-year-old Virginia man sentenced to five months in prison plus five months home detention for his involvement in a BitTorrent node.

Grant Stanley of Wise, Va. was also fined $3,000 and would have three years of supervised release. He had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and copyright infringement charges under the Family Entertainment Copyright Act.

Stanley had run the BitTorrent node known as Elite Torrents with two other individuals. The service had more than 133,000 members and was estimated to have distributed some 2 million movie files, according to a government statement.

"We hope this case sends the message that cyberspace will not provide a shield of anonymity for those who choose to break our copyright laws," United States Attorney John Brownlee said.

The creator of BitTorrent, Bram Cohen, has worked to distance himself from those who have chosen to use the technology for illicit purposes. In November of last year, he signed a deal with the MPAA to shield himself from legal action by the group.

"BitTorrent Inc. discourages the use of its technology for distributing films without a license to do so," Cohen said in a statement at the time.

People still search on various BitTorrent sites for anything from pirated software, music, movies, and television shows. Which clearly indicates how easy it is still to obtain copyrighted material through this service.

Here is yet another way to avoid WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) checks while downloading or installing Microsoft products (E.g. Internet Explorer 7 or Windows Defender). Here is a simple process that describes an easy method to prevent WGA checks while installing .msi files.

You will first of all need a small tool named Orca which BTW is an official Microsoft tool for modifying and validating .msi installers. Microsoft delivers the tool that one needs to avoid the WGA check (Orca) as part of the Microsoft Windows Server® 2003 R2 Platform SDK Web Install.It can be downloaded with the full package or also as a standalone from here or here.

Once you install Orca, run the software and open the installer from within Orca. Select InstallExecuteSequence from the left pane and right-click Check WGA and choose to drop it from the menu. Save the file, close Orca and wow!! run the installer without a single WGA check.This method doesnot work for other kind of Microsoft installers other than .msi. The new IE 7 for instance does not come with an msi installer but as an exe.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

The final version of Internet Explorer 7 is available for download. IE7 was introduced to the market some 20 months ago as a concept presented by Bill Gates. It has seen the release of no less then five beta variants and a release candidate version at a global level. Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft General Manager is the one that presented the news of the final build of IE7 to the world: “I want to thank everyone who provided feedback as we developed and fine-tuned Internet Explorer 7. With each release, your feedback helped us make IE7 better. Your contributions, ideas, and direct comments were crucial in helping us prioritize and focus our work. I can’t imagine delivering this product without the tremendous cooperation we enjoyed from so many of you as well as developers and partners.”

Microsoft also informed that, in addition to the Redmond Company's IE7 release, partners such as Yahoo, Weather.com and USA TODAY will make available their own customized versions of the browser, including personalized toolbars, additional search engines, favorites, and RSS feeds designed to tailor fit their content. Of course that you can, as we have accustomed you, download Internet Explorer 7 right here on Softpedia via this link, bearing in mind that the build supports Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP 64-bit Edition and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1. Alternatively, Microsoft will push the browser as a high-priority update via Microsoft's Automatic Updates service in November.

“The Phishing Filter and the architectural work in IE7 around networking and ActiveX opt-in will help keep users more secure. IE7 also delivers a much easier browsing experience with features like tabbed browsing (especially with QuickTabs), shrink-to-fit printing, an easily customizable search box, and a new design that leaves more screen real estate for the web site you’re viewing. IE7’s CSS improvements are incredibly important for developers as many of you have made quite clear. I also think IE7’s RSS experience and platform are important, powerful, and innovative,” added Hachamovitch.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Microsoft is reinforcing its commitment to ship Windows Vista to volume License customers in November and to the general public in January, and it's doing so by throwing a fight with the security community and the EU Commission over some features of the operating system. In this context, the Redmond Company has got not only to finish up with Windows Vista by October 25, but also to implement the announced changes by the same self-imposed deadline. Vista will suffer modifications into three aspects: security, search and the XPS format.

The security community, with little exceptions, reacted abruptly when confronted with the sight of a locked down kernel. Accusations ranged from monopoly allegations to limitations of Microsoft's view on security. Microsoft was challenged on the Patch Guard feature in Windows Vista x64 versions (but not in the more mainstream 32-bit versions) will prevent hackers, security companies, and, yes, Microsoft itself, from changing the kernel at run-time. And also Windows Security Center came into focus, the security feature front-end in Windows Vista that alerts users when security features are not present, disabled, or out of date. Security vendors want to be able to turn off Security Center and replace it with their own dashboard. In regard to both issues, Microsoft is set to deliver a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that would enable both access to Vista's kernel and third-party dashboards.

“We have agreed to create new APIs and are working on them now,” Mary Snapp, a lawyer in Microsoft's Department of Legal and Corporate Affairs (LCA). “We've done a fair bit of consulting with vendors to enable them to interface with kernel in a very secure manner. As a result, their products will operate compatibly. These APIs will suppress Security Center alerts when there is comparable functionality from a third party security center. But only when there is another console doing comparable work and alerting the user.”

Another aspect of Windows Vista that will suffer alterations is Internet search. This is in a close relation with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 and the concern that Microsoft will set Windows live Search to be the default search engine in IE7.

“In the end, Microsoft did something that makes sense for both users and the search providers. When a user upgrades from IE 6 to IE 7 (or from XP to Windows Vista), they will be presented with a screen that displays their current default search provider. They can choose to accept that choice or pick a new provider from a long list of choices that includes both major search services (like Google and Yahoo) and lesser-known options (such as Lycos or Ask.com). If the user skips over this screen, they will be presented with it every time they launch IE 7 until they've made a choice. No choice will be made for them if they choose to ignore it temporarily,” they added.

Furthermore, Microsoft will open up the XPS format as an international standard to respond to Adobe System's concerns over the advantage that XPS will get over PDF due to its integration in the operating system. “We've agreed to submit the fixed documentation layout format to a standards organization so that it can be broadly available and used,” explained Snapp. “It will not be included in Office 2007, however.”

Microsoft said on Tuesday it would allow anyone to use its specifications for "virtual" drives, which enable one computer to run several operating systems, with the promise never to sue for infringement of its legal rights.

The Microsoft virtualisation software has been available for more than two years, but as computers become more powerful the use of virtualisation is expected to mushroom, the company said at a news conference.

The software permits the easy use of several operating systems on one machine. So, for example, dangerous software could be installed on a virtual machine without affecting the host computer.

The company's specifications will be made available to anyone who wants to use them under an "Open Specification Promise", introduced last month.

The company said the license was "an irrevocable promise from Microsoft to every individual and organization in the world to make use of this patented technology for free, now and forever when implementing specified open standards".

Earlier this year, Microsoft said it would team up with Linux supplier XenSource to supply the virtual specifications to permit Windows and Linux to run on the same machines.

Such virtual software is also made by VMWare, a unit of EMC Corp., which helped pioneer the market.

The question of making software open to others has been at issue in Brussels, where the European Commission has ordered Microsoft to share protocols with rival makers of servers.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Here's another way of customizing the SAP Enterprise's Portal's Logon Page. This method seems to be very simple and straight forward, but I wasn't able to implement the steps as I run one of the latest versions of EP NW2004s Portal.

Microsoft has ostensibly caved into the demands of security firms wanting better access to the core kernel code of Windows Vista, as the company said starting Monday it would make such data available. Vendors such as McAfee and Symantec had earlier accused the company of locking them out of Vista.

McAfee and Symantec have publicly complained in recent weeks that Microsoft has locked down Vista to support its own entrant into the security space, Windows Live OneCare. However, neither company has filed legal actions.

The application programming interfaces (APIs) released Monday would allow for the security companies to stop Microsoft's own security alerts in favor of their own. Meanwhile, Microsoft says it will still continue to work on Windows Live OneCare and Windows Defender.

CEO Steve Ballmer told Reuters that the code is now available, and he felt it would satisfy the terms of the 2004 antitrust decision in the EU as well as additional concerns that have surfaced since then. The European Commission told reporters it was up to the companies themselves to say whether they are happy with the changes.

The APIs would be made available to security providers through a Web site the company has set up for them, Microsoft said.

More bad news from the Fedora Project team, Jesse Keating has announced in a press release that they ran into some more bugs with Fedora Core 6 release and they will have to postpone it for a couple of days: "Over the weekend we ran into a few more bugs with Fedora Core 6 that we decided were important enough to fix. There were some multilib compose issues (wrong packages landing in the wrong dirs), some translation files that would cause tracebacks in things like anaconda (whoops), and a fedora-release package that forgot to enable updates (double whoops). For these reasons and a few others, we decided to respin the release candidate tree and push the release date out another couple of days.

I want to thank you all for playing along and helping us to make FC6 the best release yet!"

The Fedora Project team plans to spin a release candidate this evening with some last minute fixes, and start the sync. "We're planning to release on Thursday Oct 19th." - says Jesse Keating, but then, he continues with the bad news: "If things blow up horribly and we have to spin again tomorrow, depending on what time we have to respin we may slip until next week, as releasing on Fridays or Mondays gets you the wrath of the mirror admins (:"

Microsoft's changes introduced to end-user license agreement (EULA) in Windows Vista have spawned a wave of controversy. Consequently, Paul Thurrott from SuperSitefor Windows has posted a blog entry, clarifying the Vista license changes. Microsoft is not limiting Windows transfer rights from one machine to another or upgrades of the operating system, but Microsoft has debuted virtualization licensing rights.

Microsoft will permit reassigning of Windows Vista to another device a single time. This was also the case with Windows XP - Microsoft has only intervened in the textual formulation of the EULA for Vista and not in the actual transfer rights. “You may move [Windows XP] to a different Workstation Computer. After the transfer, you must completely remove [Windows XP] from the former Workstation Computer” was the XP variant that left a little too much room for interpretation for Microsoft's taste. As Vista and XP are tied to a single workstation and not to a person, the user may reassign the OS a single time to another device, in such a case as a hardware failure. Therefore you can “reassign the Windows Vista license to another device one time.”

Microsoft actually revamped the EULA to deliver a greater level of flexibility with hardware upgrades, especially with upgrades of the motherboard and HDD. Changing these two components simultaneously will cause the operating system to conclude that it's running on a new machine and require reactivation.

“In the case of a Windows XP and Vista-based PC, there is an algorithm that examines hardware changes and, based on an internal score, determines whether a reactivation is required. When that happens, Windows will attempt to reactivate electronically. If that fails, the user will need to call and reactivate manually. This is the same under Vista as it was under XP, though again the algorithm has been updated to be less strict,” stated Thurrott.

Only Windows Vista Business and Ultimate are licensed for use as a guest OS in a Virtual Machine, but installing them on a VM is a different thing altogether. Because in doing so, you lose the right to install the operating system on a physical machine and reactivate it, due to the fact that a single license of Vista is synonym with a single installation.

“Windows Vista Enterprise is a special case. With that version of Vista, which will be made available only to volume license customers, users will be able to install a single licensed copy of Vista on one physical PC and up to four VMs, simultaneously. Those four VMs, however, must all be installed on the same Vista Enterprise-based PC, and they must be used by the same user,” reveals Thurrott.

Monday, October 16, 2006

We've been waiting for them, beta after beta and through release candidate stages. And now Microsoft has announced the official release dates for Windows Media Player and IE 7. The anticipation building around Internet Explorer 7 has been dissipated earlier this month when Microsoft announced that the final version of the browser will be available to the public by the end of October.

“Microsoft Internet Explorer 7and Windows Media Player 11, will be made available in the coming weeks. Windows XP users are encouraged to try the features to get familiar with and excited about these programs now, which will be included in Windows Vista. Internet Explorer 7 will be made available to Windows XP customers via free download in the next two weeks,” said Microsoft.

Well, on October 12, Microsoft made one step forward and revealed that Internet Explorer 7 is due in two weeks time. Theoretically, this means that by October 26, Microsoft will make IE 7 available for download.

Unlike Internet Explorer 7 that has taken the center stage together with Vista, Windows Media Player has somewhat slipped out of view. Out of view, but not out of mind. It comes on October 24.

“Microsoft encourages all Windows XP users to download the new version to explore the browsing experience in Windows Vista and take advantage of the new security features that will help protect them against malicious software and phishing attacks. Windows Media Player 11 will be available via free download beginning Oct. 24 and will enable users to take advantage of an elegant and intuitive user interface, a new level of online store integration, especially with MTV’s URGE service, and improved navigation for larger music libraries,” stated a Microsoft press release.

You can run a screensaver, ANY screensaver as your Vista Desktop. System impact? Zero. Vista performance impact? Zero. So, are you ready to give it a try? It involves a bit of a hack. But if you are the farthest thing from a Windows power user, you can do the same thing via an application that automates the process. This tool will enable you to select the screen saver and schedule start-up rendering, absolutely no code involved! You can download the application via this link.

But if you want to get your hands dirty, here is the manual method. (courtesy of Long Zheng). Alternatively, you can also access the SoapBox video demonstration below.

- Boot into Windows Vista, obviously - Open the Spy++ tool, which is used to assist in software debugging. If you don’t have a copy, download it here. - Use the “Window Search” icon, which is the binoculars icon in the toolbar. - Drag the “Finder Tool” on to the desktop. The area surrounding the desktop should be bordered. Release mouse. Click “OK”. - An item called “Folder View” should now be highlighted in the main window. Go up 2 parent items, and find “Program Manager”. - There should be a bunch of characters on the left like “0002010C”, record this set of characters. - Open the Hex to Decimal converter <>- Insert your set of characters into the “HEX value” box. Copy the resulting “Decimal” value. This is your “Handle ID”. - Open command prompt. Type in <>, you might end up with <>. Click Enter.

“With this practical yet simple method, you can emulate the look of Desktop Aurora without any system modifications or heavy impact on performance. However, it must also be said that this approach is very flawed, as it has several downsides that makes it impractical to use for extended periods of time. The concept is extremely simple. Run a screensaver on the desktop. But with the added power of DWM, you can get all the cool Glass effects on top of the screensaver, so it’s just like a real wallpaper. Screensavers has always supported the ability to be called to render on any surface to assist in development. But we can also utilize this method to create an interesting desktop background effect,” stated Zheng.

Ending the screensaver process via the Task Manager will terminate the desktop screensaver. But feel free to experiment. mystify.scr, ribbons.scr, aurora.scr and SSBranded.scr will all deliver an intense experience. “Whilst the result is fancy for a few minutes, it becomes impractical because the desktop icons are overlapped by the screensaver rendering. But since DWM renders on top of the screensaver, you get all the fancy translucent effects with the screensaver,” concluded Zheng.

Friday, October 13, 2006

The Macromedia Corporation has always been very lousy at offering their product to the Linux community. One of the supposedly supported softwares is the Flash Player for Mozilla based web browsers.

Since Macromedia Flash Player is not open source, most of the Linux vendors avoid embedding the Flash Player in their distribution. The aim of this ‘How-to’ is to teach you to enable the Flash Player in your Linux distribution, if it’s not already enabled. As far as I can remember, from the most popular distributions, the only one that integrates Flash Player out of the box is SuSe.

If you want Flash support in your distro, you should go to the Macromedia website and get the latest Flash Player for Linux, and that is version 7. This is pretty disappointing, because Macromedia has released version 9 for Windows, while for Linux time stood still regarding this matter. After downloading it, you have to extract the files from the archive. In the newly extracted director, you will notice 5 files, of which only libflashplayer.so and flashplayer.xpt will be required, so keep this in mind.

Because distributions organize their directories differently, you will have to locate the directory in which your Mozilla-based browser holds its plugins. To do so, open a terminal and use "locate mozilla" or "locate firefox", so you can figure out where those browsers are holding their plugins. At the beginning of the list displayed by the "locate” command, you will see a line similar to /usr/lib/mozilla-1.7.13/plugins/ that shows where you should copy the two files mentioned above. This path is available for the Fedora distribution and is very likely to be different when using another distro. If you are using Firefox, don't forget to put the Flash Player plugins in the correct location. The default path that distributions should use is /usr/local/mozilla/plugins. This might come in handy if you’re lucky and your Linux vendor respects the standard.

To make the plugins work with your Mozilla browser e.g. Konqueror, you have to go to its configuration window, in the plugins tab. There you will see a section for Netscape plugins and you’ll have to press the Scan button. After doing so, you will see in the plugins tab that Flash Player was installed.

Last but not least, you should know that in the Flash Player archive that you’ve decompressed, there is a file named flasplayer-install. This is supposed to be a shared script that is able to install the player. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn't; therefore, I’ve described this do-it-yourself method. Hopefully, you will now be able to enjoy some content-rich, nicely designed Flash websites.

Windows Vista ready softwares will be rolled out from partners in a couple of months. The products are bound to catch your eye, since they will be labeled with either the Certified for Windows Vista logo or the Works with Windows Vista logo. Microsoft has revealed at the DigitalLife 2006 that in excess of 250 hardware and software products from over 50 industry partners have received the logo that certifies Vista compatibility.

“We are thrilled that so many of our industry partners are working with us to bring Certified for Windows Vista software and devices to market this holiday season,” stated Mike Sievert, corporate vice president of Windows Client Marketing at Microsoft. “This certification helps ensure our customers will have a great experience with these products now, and an even better one when they are using them with Windows Vista. These products will make a great gift for the holidays that gets better with Windows Vista.”

“Just as we did with the launch of Windows® XP, HP has worked closely with Microsoft to ensure our imaging and printing products take full advantage of the capabilities of Windows Vista,” said Greg Wallace, senior vice president of marketing for the Imaging and Printing Group at HP. “HP will be a top provider of products ready for Windows Vista, offering more than 450 compatible imaging and printing products once Windows Vista is available on the market.”

autologon.exe is designed as a simple command line app for setting up autologon on a Vista machine. It won't solve all the world's problems, although Andrew Jennings, LogonUI and CredUI Developer promised otherwise on the Shell: Revealed Blog. Daniel Oliver with Program Manager Windows Shell Team has posted the power toy warning that it is not supported in any way. “autologon.exe. users to store their credentials encrypted in system context. Anyone interested in logging on automatically using stored credentials” can try out the application. “This power toy stores a user's password for autologon in a system encrypted portion of the disk. This is an unsupported tool and is offered for the amusement of the Windows user community”, Oliver added.

autologon.exe enables the set up of autologon from the command line provided that the afferent commands run from an elevated command prompt. The application also removes the password or the smartcard pin from the registry where they are in plain text and stores them as a LSASecret. In order to check the password stored in the registry check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/WindowsNT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon and keep an eye out for a default password value.

Here are a few command lines for autologon.exe:

Autologon.exe /Set /Username: (This command sets up the computer to always autologon on boot with the username )

Autologon.exe /Set /Username: /Count:4 (This command sets up the computer to autologon with the username on the next four reboots. After that it will no longer autologon)

Autologon.exe /Delete (This command clears the autologon data)

Autologon.exe /Migrate (If auto logon is already set up on the computer this command will move your password out of the registry and store it as a LSASecret)

Well, Microsoft is playing it safe in respect to the installation of Internet Explorer 7. And although Microsoft has failed to confirm IE7 installation problems related to anti-malware applications. It has argued that it is better to prevent implementation issues by temporarily disabling anti-virus or anti-spyware applications.

“Along with copying IE7 files to your system, IE7’s setup writes a large number of registry keys. A common way anti-malware applications protect your computer is by preventing writes to certain registry keys used by IE. Any registry key write that fails during setup will cause setup to fail and rollback changes. We work around the problem in most instances by checking permissions at the beginning of setup, but many anti-malware programs monitor the key rather than change permissions. Therefore, setup thinks it has access when it starts, but then fails when it later attempts to write the key,” explained Hrvatin.

Microsoft could lose the disabling anti-malware recommendation as the browser's setup will present digital signatures or file hashes to third party security software. But not until Microsoft can ensure a minimal risk of failed installation.

Sprint has announced the launch of its Power Network Coverage Tool that enables customers to access detailed coverage maps, that can zoom down to the street address level and display network signal strength.

By entering an address or zip code, the maps allow users to view the availability of wireless coverage and signal strength information on both the Nextel National Network and the Nationwide Sprint PCS Network. Customers will also be able to check the availability of Sprint's Power Vision data service, as well as the location of recently added cell sites.

Available both online at www.sprint.com/coverage and at touch-screen kiosks at approximately 800 Sprint retail stores, the interactive Power Network Coverage Tool is easy to use and helps customers determine which network best suites their needs before signing up.

Sprint plans to introduce several features that will allow users to see where Sprint intends to expand its coverage. Customers will be able to view future cell site locations within 60 days of planned build out. Later this year, when Sprint rolls out its upgraded EV-DO Revision A mobile broadband network, users will have access to EV-DO Revision A coverage on the Power Network Coverage Tool as well.

Codename Nemo is designed to be an add-on for Windows Vista (Home Premium and Vista Ultimate editions), that integrates Spaces, Messenger and Live Call into a UI designed for large monitors and TVs. Nemo essentially creates a Windows Live Media Center, and is optimized for use by Microsoft Media Center remote, as well as keyboard. Of particular note is the 3D Gallery view for browsing Windows Live Spaces, shown below, presumably built using the new Windows Presentation Foundation that will be included in Windows Vista.

By bringing Windows Live to the living room, Microsoft could expose users to its online services in a way that competitors such as Google or Yahoo have not yet exploited. With content plus advertisers equaling revenue, this can only be a good thing for MSN. Adding MSN Soapbox or MSN Originals integration into this Windows Live package could present Microsoft with a content delivery method that really starts to move the PC out of the office. Combine this with live concert streaming thanks to MSN’s recent partnership with Control Room, and suddenly the Media Center PC has much more to offer. Nemo would make upgrading to Vista a lot more attractive for the Windows Live fans too.

Microsoft is essentially exploring an uncharted territory of next generation online services, but this may prove to be an advantage over Google and Yahoo. Microsoft has not offered any specific official details regarding Nemo as yet.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Google has unveiled a combination of its word processor and spreadsheet onto a common online platform. Google Docs & Spreadsheets enables users to keep track of different emailed versions of spreadsheet or word processor files.

But, in addition to the management features, the web-based word processing and spreadsheet program allows for private or group editing, all actions being device independent.

“You can, for example, coordinate your student group's homework assignments, access your family to-do list from work or home, or collaborate with remote colleagues on a new business plan,” reads the presentation of Google's Docs & Spreadsheets Beta. “It made sense to combine these products and people were asking for that. It doesn't change our strategy. This is complementary to desktop products... and lacks certain advanced features of desktop products,” commented Jonathan Rochelle, Google Docs & Spreadsheets product manager.

“The over-riding reason why people would use these is if they want to share information,” explained Jen Mazzon of the Google Writely team.“The way normal people approach the issue is to find the most efficient way to complete a task. Some people are more comfortable using spreadsheets and some people are more comfortable doing it in documents. It's a matter of personal preference.”

The KDE Project today announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.5.5, a maintenance release for the latest generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop for GNU/Linux and other UNIXes. KDE now supports 65 languages, making it available to more people than most non-free software and can be easily extended to support others by communities who wish to contribute to the open source project. Significant enhancements include:

Version 0.12.3 of Kopete replaces 0.11.3 in KDE 3.5.5, it includes support for Adium themes, performance improvements and better support for the Yahoo! and Jabber protocols.

I just thought I'll congrajulate all of you(My Blog readers), for all the encouragement and support that you have shown in the past and will continue to do so in future. Thanks to all of you!!

Well, as you read the title - this is my 100th Blog Post. The first blog in this url http://jsbi.blogspot.com was on 1st September,2006 - not so long time ago -- Although I hold an account with blogger from May, 2004. My previous blog was at http://sjason.spaces.live.com

One incident I would like to share with all of you at this moment. I blogged on Windows Vista RC2 along with the most probable link for direct download almost 24hrs prior to the link being made available by Microsoft. Now that's called pro-active blogging. What do you think?

Anyways, I don't want to bore you guys/gals much. I will continue to refresh you with updates in technology as and when they occur.

Microsoft was bowed over in the face of consumers' response to RC2.Those who have kept an eye on the evolution of Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 and also the latecomers have discovered that Microsoft has disallowed downloads of Build 5744 and that the links are inoperable. This is the case as the Microsoft has reached the download target for windows Vista RC2 within 72 hours. This in the context in which the download target was generous enough permitting in excess of 200,000 downloads.

“The amount of information coming out of the Windows Team between now and business availability in November is going to be daunting, but we’re really excited about Windows Vista and we know you are, too, so we’ll do our best to give you as much detail as soon and as often as we can,” wrote White on the Windows Vista Beam Blog.

Concomitantly with the closure of RC2, Microsoft is also making available the retail license terms for Windows Vista. Microsoft has introduced a couple of changes in the Windows Vista license terms compared to Windows XP. More explicitly, the operating system's warranty has expanded from nine months to a whole year and validation failure will determine access restriction and the unavailability of Vista specific features.

Last evening at about 21:00hrs there was an accident in front of FORUM.

A truck reportedly developed a brake-failure and took a U turn in front of FORUM - rammed through the road divider. As it rammed through - it crushed a Santro approaching from the other side.Luckily NO Casualities in this incident. All this lead to huge traffic pile-ups...Below are some pics my friend forwarded....

New York police officials issued an emergency statement a short while ago, announcing that an aircraft crashed into a brick-based residential building, located on the Upper East Side, at 72nd Street and York Avenue in Manhattan.

The Associated Press highlighted that the building is the famous Belaire Condominiums, a luxurious 50-floor appartment complex, built in 1989 near East River. The news has been confirmed by the Federal Aviation Administration which declared that a “general aviation” fixed-wing airplane flying under visual flight rules, had just hit the building.There has been no reported casualty toll so far, as 150 firefighters from the New York Fire Department have been dispatched to the crash scene and are currently struggling to contain the fire that engulfed several floors at the middle of the building.According to the a spokesperson of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which had been assigned to monitor air traffic in that area, the specific aircraft had not been tracked.

CNN interviewed one of the eye witnesses, Sarah Steiner, who declared that fires were also burning on the ground, which may be due to the fallen debris of the aircraft: "It looks like the plane just flew into someone's living room there. It looks as if the aircraft didn't go into the building but fell down. It may be part of the debris burning on the ground”. She stressed upon the fact that when she arrived at the scene of the dramatic crash, she located the fire burning on the 30th floor of the building.

The FBI issued a formal statement, through which it assessed that the tragic event bears no indication to any terrorism-related attack, the BBC reports. “I have no reason to believe at this point that the crash in New York City is terrorism-related”, one security official stressed, declining to provide his identity, given the sensitivity of the matter.A BBC correspondent in Manhattan, Guto Harri described the crash scene as being completely paralyzed, with fire department vehicles, police and ambulance units blocking all roads situated in its vicinity. The FAA instituted a one-mile restriction area around the site, yet no New York flights or airports were affected.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Here is a simple way in which you can access blocked / restricted / banned websites. Many of you may have problems accessing your favorite sites from work because access to the internet is filtered and restricted. The freeware application UltraVNC might help you in your tries to access those sites although you are working on a restricted computer.

The software basically connects to and displays a image of your home computer on your restricted computer. You can now use the resources of your home computer to surf to the websites that are forbidden.Sounds easy ?

Well some things have to be enabled for this to work. First, you need to install UltraVNC on your home computer and have it running while you are at school. Second you need a copy of it at work. Give it a try if you need and let me know your comments on it.

Microsoft will outsource the Video Search capability in its popular MSN and Live.com to Blinkx.tv.

Blinkx.tv video search technology goes beyond metadata information and includes audio and scene recognition. Autonomy Corporation plc has revealed via a press release that its Original Equipment Manufacturer, Blinkx.tv, has inked an agreement with Microsoft, AOL and Lycos. Consequently, Blinkx will deliver advanced video search built on Autonomy's Virage technology.

“We will be the single biggest video search engine on the Web,” commented Suranga Chandratillake, Blinkx co-founder and chief technology officer. “It could mean from zero to millions of dollars," he added referring to the financial agreement signed with Microsoft. According to the partnership, Microsoft will pay Blinkx an outright licensing fee according to the usage of the Blinkx search system.

For those of you who would like to have a copy of the Windows Vista DVD home delivered as soon as it is released. Here's how you can get it...

Amazon.com has made a variety of Windows Vista versions available for pre-ordering. Amazon has also accompanied the Microsoft operating systems with a release date: “This item will be released on January 30, 2007. Pre-order now.”

According to the prices posted on Amazon, which may suffer alterations by the actual launching date, the Vista variants designed for home users cost $199 for Windows Vista Home Basic and $239 for Windows Vista Home Premium. In this context, Microsoft is delivering similar pricing schemes for Vista as it does for the various XP versions geared toward home users. The prices are also comparable when it comes to the high-end segment of the operating systems. Windows Vista Business is on sell for $299 and Windows Vista Ultimate for $399.

Additionally, Amazon.com has also revealed a list of prices addressing eventual upgrades of the OS: Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade, $99.95; Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade, $159; Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade, $259 and Windows Vista Business Upgrade, $199. But this contrary to many speculations that updates may be made free or discounted for those Windows XP's purchased in the last few months gearing to Vista launch.